FCC vacancies an ongoing problem

Partisan divides and procedural delays in the Senate could leave the Federal Communications Commission stranded at three members and stall the confirmation of its new chairman for months — a threat to the agency’s work on spectrum policy and other high-profile initiatives.

President Barack Obama’s pick to lead the agency, Tom Wheeler, appears to enjoy early, broad support, but his political fate rests in the hands of a still-unnamed Republican nominee for the FCC’s final, open slot.

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Senate Republicans, by custom, can recommend a candidate to the White House for the job — yet they’ve been mum about it for weeks. A number of names have surfaced as top contenders, but industry sources believe the latest front-runner is Mike O’Rielly, a top telecom staffer for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

Even once Obama makes a final decision, however, that person won’t immediately see a Senate hearing. And Republicans maintain that Wheeler, in the meantime, can’t advance without a GOP commissioner in tow. That may deprive the FCC of a permanent leader for an extended period as it prepares to tackle a litany of big-ticket policy items, including the upcoming spectrum auctions, merger reviews and net neutrality challenges.

The potential for delay drew a sharp rebuke from Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Commerce Committee, which oversees the agency. After inviting Wheeler to testify at a hearing Wednesday, Rockefeller slammed Republicans. “Nothing in the Commerce Committee rules says we have to have a pairing,” Rockefeller told reporters, suggesting any delay is the result of the “minority leader.”

An aide to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) later fired back, saying Rockefeller “is not in a position to know” whether the GOP leader has sent the president a recommendation for the FCC’s open slot. The leader declined further comment on timing.

For now, the FCC must operate, as it has at times in the past, without its full complement of commissioners.

In the driver’s seat is acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn, a veteran Democratic member of the FCC who took over after the resignation of Julius Genachowski. Her leadership preserves the agency’s pre-existing political balance, now at two Democrats to one Republican.

Still, the FCC is working at less than full strength at a critical policy juncture as it tries to unleash more wireless spectrum for commercial use. The agency is knee-deep in implementing a 2012 law that would see the FCC recover airwaves from broadcasters and auction them to wireless companies, all the while trying to raise enough revenue to fund a new communications network for first responders and pay down some of the federal deficit. And that’s in addition to other commission work, from reviewing mergers to defending the agency’s controversial net neutrality rules in court.

The FCC isn’t barred from conducting business while down to three members, and nothing restricts Clyburn as acting chairwoman. But there’s certainly fear among some Senate Democrats that a commission without a confirmed leader may experience new delays on a number of its high-profile initiatives.

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), who leads one of the chamber’s key telecom panels, stressed the FCC’s sitting members are “capable” but still emphasized to POLITICO that “the importance of the incentive auctions and other significant matters before the FCC highlight the need to have a full commission.” He added in a statement that the Senate “cannot be delayed indefinitely while we wait for a Republican nominee.”